Picking a Family Tradition

It’s strawberry time, y’all. The good folks at Washington Farms say the season is in swing early this year, and reports are that the fields are “LOADED!” For families living within or near Loop-10, the farm is just far enough way that the drive feels like a trip waaay out to the country. (Personally, I love to catch a little car nap while my husband does the driving.)

Our idyllic visit last spring had the makings of a new family tradition:

We picked strawberries under an Easter-egg blue sky painted with filmy white clouds that added an artist’s touch to the shimmering afternoon. The pure yellow sunlight shone on my daughters’ baby skin and perfectly crowned the rows and rows of green leafy mounds plentiful with red, ripe berries. The day was nothing short of picturesque, making even my meager photography skills more than enough to capture my daughters’ bliss that afternoon.

As we looked out across the acres, rounded backs, bent knees, and eager arms did the work of harvesting. Folks and families of all kinds picked one heart-shaped berry after another, the fruits landing with a satisfying thunk in plastic buckets emblazoned with the Washington Farms logo.

We placed pink flags to mark our picking place, and the long dirt row flanked by berry bushes proved an irresistible shuttle run for my youngest. She took off on her still wobbly, yet surprisingly fast, little legs. Her face beamed delight, and if energy can be seen, then surely it streamed from her exuberant pixie frame. She brightened our afternoon, if not the whole field.

My oldest, then almost 4, had promptly sat down to begin her picking. Without regard for our carefully marked picking space, the berries flew: some into the bucket, many more into her mouth. My husband and I divided our time between encouraging the girls to “put the berries in the bucket, please!” and systematically harvesting the berries left in the gaps of their patchwork picking, so as to leave behind as few strawberries as possible.

The farm-fresh air, spring’s mild sunlight, a moment to admire the strutting peacocks and chickens, the promise of a short flight on the swings—the wonder-filled afternoon included so much more than the strawberries, as if that alone weren’t pleasure enough.

We may make two trips to Washington Farms this spring, one for pure picking and another for a new festival. An afternoon of picking feels like just the right adventure to build on last year’s start to our new family tradition. Monday through Saturday, you can pick from 8am until 8pm. The Washington Farms website has all the info needed to plan a visit, including news about the 1st annual Strawberry Festival: Saturday, April 30, 9am until 6pm, $8 admission. The fun is set to include music, crafts, entertainment, a jumping pillow, a train ride, hayrides, and barnyard animals.

No doubt it will make for good laughs, messy mouths, and some memorable photos, which sounds like a perfect family tradition to me.

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Jennifer Derryberry Mann blogs about navigating the labyrinth of motherhood one breath at a time at Mamahhh.com. Her Nurture + Frolic column appears biweekly on Athens Patch.
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